This is Not a Joke! “Fitch Upgrades Greece at Six Notches”.(KTG).Ratings agency Fitch upgraded Greece on Tuesday to a “B-” rating with a stable outlook from restricted default over its bond swap that wiped some 100 billion euros ($131 billion) off its debt. Are things going indeed better, after the PSI? Because I hear, some friends have not been paid for working 40 hours per week, four weeks per month, since last August….

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Fitch Ratings on Tuesday upgraded Greece’s sovereign-debt rating only days after placing it in restricted default, saying the completion of a debt-restructuring deal has ended the default event.
Fitch’s rating was raised to B-minus, a junk-level rating six levels below investment-grade territory. The outlook is stable.Fitch said there was 96% participation in the debt deal, which was completed Friday and allowed Greece to significantly reduce its borrowing by exchanging its debts for new securities at a lower value. Its creditors were required to take sizeable losses to their bond values as part of the deal.
A panel of market participants ruled that the restructuring constituted a credit event and would trigger insurance-like contracts that pay off if creditors suffer losses. On Friday, both Fitch and Moody’s Investors Service declared Greece in default. They joined Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, which declared Greece in selective default about two weeks ago.
Fitch says the debt exchange and the losses imposed on bondholders have significantly improved Greece’s debt-service profile and reduced the risk of a recurrence of near-term repayment difficulties on the new Greek securities. But, the ratings firm said significant and material default risk remains in light of a still very high level of debt and profound economic challenges facing Greece.
The historic EUR200 billion ($266 billion) debt restructuring deal will cut about EUR100 billion from the face value of the debt-strapped country’s obligations. Yet, Greece remains mired in a long recession; unemployment is at 21%; and even after the write-off, the debt level is well in excess of a year’s economic output. (Wall Street Journal).Read the full story here.

Pajhwok Afghan News to IMRA:"It would help if President Obama offered compensation "Diyya a.k.a. Bloodmoney' to families of Afghanis murdered by US soldier."in accordance with sharia law, though here would be complications in establishing who receives the payment.Read the full story here, more on Diyya and Qisas here.

Obama says he directed Pentagon to do thorough investigation of fort hood shootingworkplace violence civilian deaths in Afghanistan.WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama says he is directing the Pentagon to conduct a very thorough investigation of the weekend killings of Afghan civilians, allegedly by a U.S. soldier.Obama says the inquiry will "follow the facts" wherever they lead, and that anyone found responsible will be prosecuted fully. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has said the death penalty is possible if the soldier is convicted.
Speaking at the White House, Obama says the killings do not reflect American values or the U.S. military. He called the incident tragic and heartbreaking, but he insists it will not change U.S. commitment to finishing the job in Afghanistan.
Obama says the U.S. will "responsibly" withdraw its forces between now and the end of 2014, the date he set with allies to close out the war.Hmmmm.....No 'Workplace violence' this time i guess?Only counts when you kill Americans?Read the full story here.

“Shocking” former CAIR official, now a candidate for President in Egypt, wants to fully implement sharia law.(JW).Egyptian Presidential Candidate Bassem Khafaji Pledges to "Complete the Implementation of Islamic Law in Egypt"
Following are excerpts from Egyptian presidential candidate Bassem Khafaji, which aired on Al-Nas TV on March 7, 2012:

Bassem Khafaji: Let me tell you, in all honesty, that as a Muslim Egyptian, I am convinced of [the need to] complete the implementation of Islamic law in Egypt. I do not hide this truth in any way, because it is in keeping with the inclination of the Egyptian people.

We Egyptians – both Muslims and non-Muslims – refer to the shari'a in many things. I often ask people: How did you get married? Wasn't it according to the shari'a, regardless of whether you are Muslim or not? Weren't you married in accordance with your religion? When somebody in our family dies, how we inherit him? Not in accordance with the shari'a?

No [candidate] should say that he is coming to implement the shari'a, because part of it has already been implemented. What the Egyptian people want is to complete this implementation. As president, I will personally assist in the completion of the correct implementation of the shari'a, by consulting the experts [in Islamic law].

Jihad Watch reader Benedict, who kindly alerted me to the above item,points out that Bassem Khafaji, or Khafagi, used to work in the U.S. for Hamas-linked CAIR:

The former community affairs director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Bassem Khafagi was arrested in January 2003 on suspicion of aiding terrorists. Khafagi is also the founder of the Islamic Assembly of North America (IANA), a radical, Ann Arbor, Michigan-based organization. He pled guilty in a Detroit federal court to two counts of bank fraud and one count of visa fraud.

Hamas-linked CAIR constantly insists that Muslims in the U.S. don't want to implement Sharia here. So did Khafagi change his mind about Sharia when he went back to Egypt? Or does he think Sharia should be implemented in Egypt but not here? Or maybe he and others in Hamas-linked CAIR really do want to bring Sharia here? I confidently await the imminent explanation from Honest Ibe Hooper, clearing all this up! Read the full story here.

Broken Promises: Pensions All Over America Are Being Savagely Cut Or Are Vanishing Completely.(TheEconomicCollaps).How would you feel if you worked for a state or local government for 20 or 30 years only to have your pension slashed dramatically or taken away entirely? Well, this exact scenario is playing out from coast to coast and in the years ahead millions of elderly Americans are going to be affected by broken promises and vanishing pensions. In the old days, things were much different. You would get hired by a big company or a government institution and you knew that the retirement benefits that they were promising you would be there when you retired in a few decades. Unfortunately, we have now arrived at a time when government institutions and big companies have promised far more than they are able to deliver, and “pension reform” has become one of the hot button issues all over the nation. Many Americans that have been basing their financial futures on their pensions are waking up one day and finding that their pensions are either gone or have been cut back dramatically. According to Northwestern University Professor John Rauh, the latest estimate of the total amount of unfunded pension and healthcare obligations for state and local governments across the United States is 4.4 trillion dollars. America is continually becoming a poorer nation and all of that money is simply not going to magically materialize somehow. So where is that 4.4 trillion dollars going to come from? Well, either pension benefits are going to have to be cut a lot more all over America or taxes will need to be raised dramatically. Either way, we are all going to feel the pain of these broken promises.There simply is not enough money out there to keep all of the pension commitments that have been made. Something has got to give. In the end, millions of elderly Americans will likely be plunged into poverty as pensions disappear.
Some local governments around the nation are already declaring bankruptcy and are either eliminating pensions or are cutting them very deeply. Just check out what just happened in Central Falls, Rhode Island….

For years, city officials promised robust union contracts and pensions without raising revenue to pay for them. Last August, the math caught up with them. Central Falls was broke, its pension fund short $46 million. It declared bankruptcy.“My daughters grew up here, went to school here. It’s all gone,” said Mike Geoffroy, a retired firefighter.He said he could not make the payments on his house after his pension was cut by $1,100 a month.

When will the math catch up with the city where you are living?For years and years most of our state and local politicians have been ignoring this problem. But eventually a day comes when you simply cannot ignore it any longer.
Over the next 20 years approximately 10,000 Baby Boomers will be retiring every single day.A lot of them are going to be blindsided by empty pension funds and broken promises.We are facing a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and there is not much hope in sight.
And if there is a maor stock market crash, things are going to be much, much worse.
Most pension funds and retirement plans are heavily invested in the stock market. If we were to see a major financial crisis like we saw back in 2008 it would be absolutely devastating. Millions of Americans could see their retirement plans wiped out in short order.Once again, please do not place your faith in the system.If you do, you are likely to end up holding a bag of broken promises.A gigantic tsunami of unfunded pension obligations is coming. A lot of state and local governments are going to go broke. A lot of promises are going to be broken.If you hope to retire any time soon, you better plan on being able to take care of yourself.Read the full story here.

Will Sitting President Obama Finally Be Held Accountable For High Crimes and Misdemeanors?ActivistPost.By Eric Blair.Since 2005, Veterans for Peace and others have been calling for the impeachment of the sitting president for war crimes. After their demands to lawmakers to uphold the rule of law against Bush were largely ignored (except by Dennis Kucinich who introduced impeachment articles too late in 2008), they renewed their effort to impeach Obama once he continued to bomb sovereign nations without congressional approval. Now, some lawmakers seem to have finally decided to take the rule of law and Separation of Powers seriously.

Obama will face impeachment over his failure to seek congressional authorization before launching offensive military action in Libya last year. Official impeachment proceedings have now been filed in both the House and Senate.

Last week, North Carolina Representative Walter Jones filed an Impeachment Resolution in the House H.CON.RES.107.IH stating; "Expressing the sense of Congress that the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution.

"Whereas the cornerstone of the Republic is honoring Congress’s exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that, except in response to an actual or imminent attack against the territory of the United States, the use of offensive military force by a President without prior and clear authorization of an Act of Congress violates Congress’s exclusive power to declare war under article I, section 8, clause 11 of the Constitution and therefore constitutes an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Constitution."

President Barack Obama becomes only the third sitting president to face impeachment following Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. Johnson was impeached for illegally dismissing an office holder without the Senate's approval, and Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice. Both were acquitted by the Senate.

Significantly, President Obama faces much more serious charges than his impeached predecessors and it's still unclear what legal defense he will use to diffuse the charges as the legal basis for his unilateral action has been inconsistent and vague from the beginning of the Libya assault.

Prior to military operations in Libya, the Justice Department advised the Administration on the legality of using unauthorized force in Libya in a 14-page memo titled Authority to Use Military Force in Libya, which states vaguely:

We conclude...that the use of military force in Libya was supported by sufficiently important national interests to fall within the President's constitutional power. At the same time, turning to the second element of the analysis, we do not believe that anticipated United States operations in Libya amounted to "war" in the constitutional sense necessitating congressional approval under the Declaration of War clause.

The memo goes on explain why the alleged situation on the ground in Libya was in U.S.'s national interest, cites previous times when the U.S. military was deployed without congressional approval and claims the mission was an international support mission with no deployed ground troops to justify their conclusion.

However, in no way were national interests under an "imminent" threat by hostilities in Libya as required by the War Powers Act, and supporting an international mission is irrelevant to the Act. Furthermore, Obama has maintained the legal defense that American involvement fell short of full-blown hostilities even after hostilities exceeded the 90-day limit of unauthorized use of force afforded under the War Powers Act.

The New York Timesquotes directly from the 38-page report Obama sent to concerned lawmakers after the 90-day deadline passed “U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops.”

Therefore, the Administration claims it wasn't a real military conflict that Congress should concern itself with. However, at the same time, the White House acknowledged that the cost to U.S. taxpayers was well over $1 billion for these non-hostile military activities.

Coincidentally, on the same day the impeachment resolution was filed, Obama's Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged that the Libya War did indeed constitute military combat, but claimed the legal basis for spending U.S. tax dollars on war rested in "international permission":
This impeachment comes on the heals of other Administration officials giving equally flimsy legal justifications for assassinating U.S. citizens without due process. Where, also last week, Attorney General Holder sought to clarify this tyrannical authority in a speech at Northwestern University by claiming "judicial process" was not the same as "due process" under the Constitution.

Yet, the Fifth Amendment clearly states "No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury."

Due process is the legal requirement that the state must respect all of the legal rights that are owed to a person. Due process balances the power of law of the land and protects individual persons from it. When a government harms a person without following the exact course of the law, this constitutes a due-process violation, which offends against the rule of law.

The Obama Administration has clearly "offended against the rule of law," and it appears his only defense lies in somehow changing the definition of words. It's not a strong legal position to be in and it seems that, for the first time in history, a sitting president may be held accountable for high crimes and misdemeanors.Read the full story here.

"A Picture tells a thousand words" - IDF Homefront Command’s New Rocket Map Speaks Volumes.Baruch Hashem today (19 Adar 5772), the southern areas of the country are not hearing sirens warning of incoming rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza. Nonetheless, the threats from Gaza remain and the IDF Homefront Command has prepared new maps, maps that include Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in the strike range. The older maps did not pass Kiryat Malachi and Kiryat Gat, but today, with the defense establishment aware of the striking range of Hamas terrorists today, the new maps show Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in the red zone, 70 kilometers (42 miles) from Gaza. Also included in the new map are Modi’in, Holon, and Beit Shemesh,The old maps did not address targets outside the 40km (25 miles) range from Gaza but today, terrorists have Fajar longer-range missiles capable of striking deep inside Israel. These missiles have a 110km (65 miles) range.During the last wave of warfare, sirens did sound as far as Rechovot.Read and see the full story here.

Scientists Warn EPA Over Monsanto’s GMO Crop Failures, Dangers.A group of scientists is calling for major federal action in order to deal with the threat posed by Monsanto’s GMO crops, now petitioning the EPA to address the issue head on. The group of 22 academic corn experts are drawing attention to the immense failure of Monsanto’s genetically modified corn, which is developing mutated and resistant insects as a result of its widespread usage.
Corn is critical not only as a food staple, but is heavily used in ethanol production, animal feed, and much more. As GM corn becomes the norm, currently taking over 94 percent of the supply, these scientists are seriously concerned about the future of corn production.
Joseph Spencer is one outspoken member of the group, a corn entomologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey, part of the University of Illinois. Spencer states that what is happening is no surprise, instead it is something that needs to be addressed. Warning the EPA over the dangers, the experts sent a letter on March 5th to the agency explaining their worries regarding long-term corn production prospects in light of GMO crops failures. Specifically, the experts are worried about the lack of protection presented by GMO crops against rootworms.
The EPA has already acknowledged that Monsanto’s GMO crops are creating resistant rootworms, which are now ravaging the GMO crops as they mutate to the biopesticide used known as Bacillus thuringiensis (BT). The EPA found that the resistant rootworms, which are evolving to resist the insecticide, are currently found Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and Nebraska. After the EPA evaluated documented cases of severe crop damage as well as reports from entomologists, the EPA stated “Monsanto’s program for monitoring suspected cases of resistance is ‘inadequate’”.Essentially, the GMO crops are doing the opposite of their supposed purpose — leading to more damage from rootworms as they become mutated to resist the defense of the crops. And Monsanto has answered by simply further genetically modifying the Bt, which research shows is extremely ineffective.
“When insecticides overlay transgenic technology, the economic and environmental advantages of rootworm-protected corn quickly disappear,” the scientists wrote.It’s time for the EPA and other agencies to address the serious threats to nature and human health presented by Monsanto’s genetically modified creations.Hmmmm............Mother nature still 'outsmarts' the apprentice wizards.Read the full story here.

The "War on Christianity" Iranian regime has admitted to the world community that the case against Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani involves his Christian faith and religious activity.For the first time, the Iranian regime has admitted to the world community that the case against Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani involves his Christian faith and religious activity, as there are new calls at the United Nations (UN) for his immediate release.
As I sit in a room full of international media and representatives of UN member states at a meeting of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, listening to Special Rapporteur Dr. Ahmed Shaheed present his report on human rights abuses in Iran, it is clear that ignorance is no longer an excuse for inaction. Without hesitation or trepidation, Special Rapporteur Dr. Shaheed specifically called for Pastor Youcef’s release.
Although the Special Rapporteur’s formal report did not mention Pastor Youcef or the systematic persecution of Christian communities in Iran, as he did in his last presentation, it is clear after his oral presentation today to the Human Rights Council that he is gravely concerned about Pastor Youcef’s case. Special Rapporteur Dr. Shaheed requested that “the Iranian authorities reassess the cases of all those listed in [his] report and to reconsider the aforementioned cases presented here today.” He also urged them to consider the release of “Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani who has been sentenced to death for apostasy . . . .”
After having several meetings directly with the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran and with delegates from key nations, I am encouraged that some at the UN are working to ensure that Iran immediately and unconditionally releases Pastor Youcef. Of particular import, we would like to thank the European Union, Canada, Sweden, France, Spain, Mexico, Norway, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, United Kingdom, Germany, United States, Slovakia, Czech Republic, and Brazil for speaking out against religious persecution in Iran and calling for the release of prisoners of conscience.The Special Rapporteur once again reiterated in his closing remarks that Pastor Youcef had been convicted on an apostasy charge in Iran. He also stated that although Pastor Youcef’s lawyers feared Iran may use another charge to justify executing him, the legal documents – which I provided to him last week (the original Iranian supreme court verdict in Farsi and translated into English, Portuguese, and Russian) – only state apostasy as the charge for which he is to be executed.Hmmmm.............."Islamofauxbia".Read the full story here.

A Libyan Muslim smashing a tall "Cross of Sacrifice" with a hammer standing at the edge of a commonwealth cemetery, Benghazi, Libya.

Islam's Tradition of Breaking the Cross.By Mark Durie.Stonegate Institute.
In the recent destruction of Commonwealth war graves in Benghazi, Libya (YouTube Video), you can see not just the desecration of graves, but attacks on crosses.
The radical Muslims who are kicking over and smashing headstones marked with crosses (and one with a Star of David), also took pains to demolish a tall "Cross of Sacrifice" standing at the edge of the cemetery.This was no "furious mob" on a "rampage," asa Daily Mail reportput it. Nor was there any evidence in what they were saying that they were angry or reacting to Koran burning by the US military.The men are methodically, deliberately, and in an organized fashion, going about destroying crosses and objects marked with crosses. Their mood seems happy. Every now and again the cry Allahu Akbar rings out, or a chuckle of joy. They pass comments on the graves as they kick them over:"Break the cross that belongs to those," "This is the grave of a Christian," and, "This tomb has a cross on it: a kaffir [disbeliever]."
An Australian government minister, Craig Emerson, whose father served in Libya in World War II, commented, "There is nothing in Islam that would warrant this sort of behavior." But is this true? Or just wishful thinking? Certainly many Libyans and Muslims of other nationalities have expressed their abhorrence of these acts. It would be completely wrong to attribute sympathy for such an attack to Muslims as whole.But all the same, was this attack on war graves truly senseless and without foundation or precedent in Islam? Regrettably, the answer is "No."The phenomenon of cross-destruction goes back to the life and example of Muhammad. A tradition reported by al-Waqidi said that if ever Muhammad found an object in his house with the mark of a cross on it, he would destroy it. (W. Muir, The life of Muhammad. Volume 3, p.61, note 47.)
In the YouTube video, when one of the men says, "Break the cross that belongs to those dogs," he uses the same classical Arabic phrase – "break the cross' (the Arabic root is k.s.r 'break') -- which is found in a famous hadith (tradition) about Jesus — understood in Islam to be a Muslim prophet — who will return to the earth as a cross-destroying enforcer of Islamic Sharia law:

Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle said, 'By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, surely [Jesus,] the son of Mary will soon descend amongst you and will judge mankind justly [as a Just Ruler];he will break the cross and kill the pigs and there will be no jizya [i.e. no taxation taken from non Muslims: because they will all be forced to convert to Islam]. …'"(Sahih al-Bukhari: The Book of the Stories of the Prophets. 4:60:3448.)

This phrase 'break the cross' is religious and ritualistic in its overtones, invoking the canon of Islam. It is like a Christian saying 'forgive us our trespasses' in reference to the Lord's Prayer. This is a clear reference to the words of Muhammad, and invokes his authority for the deed being performed.
To pious Muslims, Muhammad is regarded as the "best example" for Muslims to follow, so it is hardly surprising if his enmity to the cross is shared by at least some Muslims today. The following are just some of many examples of cross destruction which can be culled from media reports of recent years:

Two days before Christmas in 1998, a Catholic church in Faisalabad, Pakistan had its crucifix pulled down by a Muslim leader.

In April 2007, in the Al-Doura Christian area of Baghdad, Muslim militants instructed Christians to remove visible crosses from atop their churches, and issued a fatwa forbidding Christians from wearing crosses.

When Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007, some of its militias went on a cross-destroying rampage. The Rosary Sisters convent and school in Gaza was ransacked and looted by masked men and crosses were specifically targeted for destruction. A Christian resident of Gaza also reported having a crucifix ripped from his neck by someone from the Hamas Executive Force, who said, "That is forbidden."

On Monday 29 October 2007, in the Malaysian Parliament, a parliamentarian, Tuan Syed Hood bin Syed Edros complained about the "display of religious symbols' in front of church schools: 'I, as a responsible person to my religion, race, and country, I state my views that … these crosses need to be destroyed …'"

Antipathy to the cross among Muslims is not limited to Islamic societies: In November 2004, Belmarsh Prison in England was reported to have plans to spend £1.6 million on a mosque. The facility already maintains a multi-denominational chapel, but this has been rejected for use by the Muslim inmates, some of whom had been convicted on terrorism charges, because the chapel contains crosses which have to be covered up when the Muslims say their prayers.
No less a figure than the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, was compelled to remove his pectoral cross when he had to make a forced stop in Saudi Arabia in 1995. The incident is described by David Skidmore in the Episcopal News Service:Carey's flight out of Cairo for Sudan was forced to make an intermediary stop in Saudi Arabia. On the approach to the Red Sea coastal city of Jidda, Saudi Arabia, Carey was told to remove all religious insignia, including his clerical collar and pectoral cross.There is another pattern at work here, which is the destruction of non-Muslim (infidel) graves and religious heritage.
The Taliban's destruction of Buddhist sites in Afghanistan is a well-known example, as was the deliberate destruction of around 38,000 Jewish graves on the Mount of Olives, some of which were over 1,000 years old, during Jordan's occupation of Jerusalem from 1948 to 1967.
It must also be acknowledged that radical Sunni Muslims have a long history of destroying Muslim graves as well, if they have become sites of pilgrimage or veneration.
The Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia have been known for more than one hundred years for destroying venerated gravesites, including those of some of Muhammad's own relatives (see a Shi'ite lament here).
In Libya, Salafists have also been busy destroying graves of Sufi saints.
Likewise, in Somalia the al-Shabab movement has been destroying Sufi graves (as well as war graves of Christians: see here). In the light of other parallels, the destruction of this cemetery cannot be regarded as simply a senseless act done by a "rampaging mob."It was a thoughtful, deliberate act, which conforms to a widely attested pattern, namely the destruction of crosses, support for which can be found in canonical Islamic sources and the teaching of Muhammad. It also conforms to a pattern of destruction of gravesites, of both non-Muslims and Muslims, by radical Muslims -- not with Koran-burning by the US military.

Mark Durie is an Anglican vicar in Melbourne, Australia, and an Associate Fellow at the Middle Eastern Forum.

Arab League intervenes in Muslim Brotherhood, UAE "Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi clash".The Arab League chief, Nabil al-Araby, has said comments made by a Muslim Brotherhood spokesperson in Egypt against the United Arab Emirates were “hostile,” in a statement issued by his office on Monday.The Brotherhood spokesman, Mahmoud Ghozlan, had threatened action against the UAE if the Gulf country would attempt to capture and prosecute prominent Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi.
The Sheikh had sparked a heated row between the UAE and his Brotherhood supporters when he criticized the Gulf state for reportedly revoking the visas of Syrians who protested against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad outside of the Syrian consulate in Dubai.Qaradawi’s comments provoked a heated response from the Dubai police chief, Dhahi Khalfan, who threatened to arrest the Shiekh.“We are going to issue an arrest warrant against Sheikh Qaradawi” Khalfan wrote on his Twitter account earlier this week.“If he insults the UAE will we leave him? ...Whoever insults the state or the government of the UAE, I will pursue him,” the police chief added.
In response to the Muslim Brotherhood’s retaliated threat of action against the UAE, Egyptian media cited Araby as saying on Monday: “I call on all political forces to resort to wisdom and prudence and to avoid hostile attitudes and irresponsible statements that can be detrimental to relations between Arab countries, and that cause dissension and division.”
The Arab League chief added: “We are about to prepare for the coming Arab summit in Baghdad, which we hope would restore the spirit of Arab solidarity and unify Arab positions on the challenges and major variables facing the region.”Meanwhile, Egyptian state-run news agency MENA quoted anonymous Egyptian diplomatic sources as saying that there is no problem between Egypt and the UAE, and that the Brotherhood spokesman’s comments reflect the opinion of his group and not the Egyptian government.Read the full story here.

Egyptian court awards life sentence to two Israelis and a Ukrainian for weapons smuggling.An Egyptian court sentenced a Ukrainian and two Israelis on Monday to life in prison on charges of smuggling weapons into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula from Israel, Egyptian and Israeli media quoted court officials as saying.
The Ukrainian and one of the Israelis are being held by the Egyptian authorities while the second Israeli citizen has been tried in absentia, according to court officials.“They will be sent to jail immediately,” Bikyamasr website quoted one official as saying. “The judge said Egypt will not tolerate any attempt to create chaos in the country.” The Israeli, Muad Zahalka, and the Ukrainian, Eduard Bablovich, who were sentenced at the Ismailia Criminal Court, have been held in custody since October 2011.Bablovich, who managed a tourism company in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, is alleged to have ordered machineguns and ammunition from one of the Israeli citizens.
Israeli daily Ynet quoted Egyptian authorities as saying Zahalka brought the weapon into Egypt at the border at Taba in a cross-shaped wooden crate.Authorities seized the weapons after the crate was placed on an explosives detection machine.Bablovich told the court he ordered the weapons for self-protection whereas Zahalka denied he knew what was in the box.In February, an Australian and German who worked in a security firm were arrested at Cairo International Airport over suspected smuggling of weapons into Egypt.Read the full story here.

Muslim suspect in arson attack on Brussels Shi'ite mosque in which imam died gives three different Identities.The Brussels Mosque is the most important center for Shi'ites in Belgium it had been threatened before in 2007 by Salafists.The 46-year old imam Abdallah Dadou, father of four children suffocated while trying to extinguish the flames.All the indications are that the perpetrator was another Muslim. He made Salafists remarks while smashing things up inside the mosque with an axe, before setting it on fire. During his interview three different identities were specified by him.These are now being further investigated. He's a thirty-something at the beginning of the hearing announced that he is a Muslim.As one of the most islamified cities in Europe, Brussels is a powder keg. It's very easy to imagine how Muslims could go rioting and burning tonight if they believed this was an "islamophobic" attack. They're less likely to react that way if they know it's another Muslim. But, following their politically correct rules, the journalists and police won't give them that information.The attacker was shouting anti-Shiite Salafist slogans about the conflict in Syria.
The suspect entered the Mosque wearing a backpack, on different spots he poored petrol, and produced a knife and axe which he used to threaten bystanders.Eventually the bystanders managed to overpower him and lock him up while waiting for the police to arrive. There were also two men lightly wounded in the fight to overpower the suspect.Isabelle Praile of the Muslim Executive, herself a Shiite, told RTBF that the Rida mosque, the biggest mosque in Brussels, has been guarded by the police for years after threats by SalafistsRead the full story here.(GoogleTranslated).More here.HT:IVE

National Committee of GMJ Urges Massive Participation in March 30 Rally.Tehran - The national committee of the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) in its first press release in Gaza Strip called for strong participation in the upcoming civil resistance movement for the freedom of Jerusalem.In the statement issued in the official website of the movement (gm2j.com), the committee said, " The national committee of the GMJ in Gaza Strip calls the Palestinian people, Islamic and national factions, our organizations, Islamic and Arabic people,and the liberals of the world to be ready to participate effectively with our rally on the 63rd anniversary of Palestine's land day, 30th March."
"We will do this in order to send a strong message to our Zionist enemy that we as the Palestinians people cleats will protect our holy mosque and holy sites with all valuable and precious means that we have, and we will keep our constants especially Jerusalem and Al Aqsa mosque," it added.
Earlier, a large number of renowned figures from across the world voiced their support for the upcoming Global March to Jerusalem due to take place on March 30th, 2012.
The Global March to Jerusalem will take place on Friday 30th March 2012 where hundreds of committees and campaigns all over the six continents will participate in order to highlight the suffering the people of Jerusalem are going through as a result of the occupation's Zionist and racist practices. The slogan of the March will be "Peoples of the world demand the freedom for Jerusalem… People of the world demand to end the occupation of Palestine".Read the full 'story' here.

What is Islam's connection to Jerusalem?

Jerusalem How Important is it to Muslims?(DanielPipes).With final-status talks between Israel and the Palestinians underway, Jerusalem is finally in play. At base, the argument here consists of an argument between Jews and Moslems over who has the older, better documented, and deeper ties to the Holy City.A cursory review of the facts shows that there is not much of a contest.
Jerusalem has a unique importance to Jews. It has a unique place in Jewish law and a pervasive presence in the Jewish religion. Jews pray toward Jerusalem, mourn the destruction of their Temple there, and wishfully repeat the phrase "Next year in Jerusalem." It is the only capital of the Jewish state, ancient or modern.In contrast, Jerusalem has a distinctly secondary place for Moslems. It is not once mentioned in the Koran or in the liturgy. The Prophet Mohammed never went to the city, nor did he have ties to it. Jerusalem never has served as the capital of any polity, and has never been an Islamic cultural center.
Rather, Mecca is the "Jerusalem" of Islam. That is where Moslems believe that Abraham nearly sacrificed Ishmael; where Mohammed lived most of his life; and where the key events of Islam took place. Moslems pray in its direction five times each day and it is where non-Moslems are forbidden to set foot.
Jerusalem being of minor importance to Islam, why do Moslems nowadays insist that the city is more important to them than to Jews? The answer has to do with politics. Moslems take religious interest in Jerusalem when it serves practical interests. When those concerns lapse, so does the standing of Jerusalem. This pattern has recurred at least five times over 14 centuries.
The Prophet. When Mohammed sought to convert the Jews in the 620s C.E., he adopted several Jewish-style practices - a Yom Kippur-like fast, a synagogue-like place of worship, kosher-style food restrictions - and also tachanun-like prayers while facing Jerusalem. But when most Jews rejected Mohammed's overtures, the Koran changed the prayer direction to Mecca and Jerusalem lost importance for Moslems.
The Umayyad Dynasty. Jerusalem regained stature a few decades later when rulers of the Umayyad dynasty sought ways to enhance the importance of their territories. One way was by building two monumental religious structures in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock in 691 and Al-Aqsa Mosque in 715.Then the Umayyads did something tricky: The Koran states that God took Mohammed "by night from the sacred mosque in Mecca to the furthest (al-aqsa) place of worship." When this passage was revealed (about 621), "furthest place of worship" was a turn of phrase, not a specific place. Decades later, the Umayyads built a mosque in Jerusalem and called it Al-Aqsa. Moslems since then understand the passage about the "furthest place of worship" as referring to Jerusalem.
But when the Umayyads fell in 750, Jerusalem lapsed into near obscurity.Read the full story here, more here on the up coming event on March 14th.

Christians have no right to wear cross at work, says U.K. Government .......Let's get a Tattoo like the Copts?In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.
The Government’s position received an angry response last night from prominent figures including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.He accused ministers and the courts of “dictating” to Christians and said it was another example of Christianity becoming sidelined in official life.The Strasbourg case hinges on whether human rights laws protect the right to wear a cross or crucifix at work under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”
The Christian women bringing the case, Nadia Eweida and Shirley Chaplin, claim that they were discriminated against when their employers barred them from wearing the symbols.They want the European Court to rule that this breached their human right to manifest their religion.
The Government’s official response states that wearing the cross is not a “requirement of the faith” and therefore does not fall under the remit of Article 9.
Lawyers for the two women claim that the Government is setting the bar too high and that “manifesting” religion includes doing things that are not a “requirement of the faith”, and that they are therefore protected by human rights.They say that Christians are given less protection than members of other religions who have been granted special status for garments or symbols such as the Sikh turban and kara bracelet, or the Muslim hijab.Andrea Williams, the director of the Christian Legal Centre, said: “It is extraordinary that a Conservative government should argue that the wearing of a cross is not a generally recognised practice of the Christian faith.“In recent months the courts have refused to recognise the wearing of a cross, belief in marriage between a man and a woman and Sundays as a day of worship as ‘core’ expressions of the Christian faith."What next? Will our courts overrule the Ten Commandments?” Hmmmm......Let's get a Cross tattooed on out body like the Copts and be persecuted like them?Read the full story here. HT: AOW.

Afghan Taliban threaten to behead U.S. soldiers.KABUL (Reuters) - Suspected insurgents fired on an Afghan government delegation on Tuesday investigating the massacre of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, officials said, hours after the Taliban threatened to behead American troops to avenge the killings.
Two of President Hamid Karzai's brothers, Shah Wali Karzai and Addul Qayum Karzai, were with senior defense, intelligence and interior ministry officials travelling to the scene of the massacre in Najiban and Alekozai villages, in Kandahar's Panjwai district, when insurgents opened fire.Karzai's brothers were unharmed in the brief gunbattle during meetings at a village mosque, but a soldier and a civilian were wounded. The area is a Taliban stronghold and a supply route.
"The Islamic Emirate once again warns the American animals that the mujahideen will avenge them, and with the help of Allah will kill and behead your sadistic murderous soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, using the term with which the Islamist group describes itself.
As the first protest broke out in Jalalabad city over the weekend shootings, the Taliban said Afghan government demands for an open trial of the U.S. Army staff sergeant being held for the slayings would not blunt civilian hostility towards Western combat troops.
The unnamed U.S. soldier - said to have only recently arrived in the country - is accused of walking off his base in Kandahar province in the middle of the night and gunning down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.A U.S. official said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury while on a previous deployment in Iraq.
A spokesman for Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wisa said that tribal elders in the area of the massacre would urge against protests and work to dampen public anger if the investigation process was transparent."They are supporting the government and will accept any conclusion by the investigators. Today we have meetings with people in the area and all will become clear," spokesman Ahmad Jawid Faisal said.NATO officials said it was too early to tell if the U.S. soldier would be tried in the United States or Afghanistan if investigators were to find enough evidence to charge him, but he would be under U.S. laws and procedures under an agreement between U.S. and Afghan officials.
Typically, once the initial investigation is completed, prosecutors decide if they have enough evidence to file charges and then could move to an Article 32 or court martial hearing.U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that the death penalty could be sought in the U.S. military justice system against the soldier, but portrayed the shooting as an isolated event that would not alter withdrawal plans.
While Afghan MPs in parliament called for a trial under Afghan law, Karzai's office was understood to accept that a trial in a U.S. court would be acceptable provided the process was transparent and open to media.Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said that despite NATO and White House references to the killings as the work of a "rogue" soldier, other similar events had happened before, including a "kill team" apprehended in Kandahar in 2010."In the stress of an environment of escalated violence - by both sides, but particularly after Obama's troop surge in early 2009, it looks as if most soldiers simply see Afghanistan as a whole as ‘enemy territory' and every Afghan as a potential terrorist. This can no longer be called ‘rogue'," Ruttig said.Read the full story here.

Video - Police taser "aggressive" man after confrontation at Pearson airport.(CTV).A section of Toronto's Pearson International Airport was closed Monday afternoon after police officers used a Taser on a man said to be acting aggressively in a security screening area.Peel Regional Police Const. George Tudos said the man was trying to get through security Gate E for an international flight without being screened or searched by employees just before 11 a.m. Monday.Airport staff used a silent security alarm to call police officers to the scene.Police found the man in the common area outside security."Officers that responded were met with a confrontational, very aggressive male who assaulted one of the offices," Tudos said.The officers were attacked and a Taser was deployed by police, Tudos confirmed.Two officers were injured during the confrontation and were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. One of the officers had injuries to the face. The other may have suffered a concussion.The man, 23, was also taken to Etobicoke General Hospital where he is being assessed, police said.Officers are trained yearly on when to use force, Tudos said."When we do use any use-of-force weapon, it has to be justified by the actions of the person that they're interacting with," Tudos said.Hmmmm.........No word on the identity or religious convictions of the man?Read and see (Video) the full story here.

IDF: Iran encouraging Palestinians to continue attacks ..prelude to the Global March on Jerusalem?Iran is encouraging the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Gaza to continue firing rockets against Israel, IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai said on Sunday.
According to Mordechai, since the beginning of the violence on Friday, 150 rockets have been fired by Palestinian terror groups, although 40 landed inside Gaza and another 37 were intercepted by the Iron Dome counter-rocket defense system. "Iran finances Islamic Jihad and supports it with weaponry," Mordechai told reporters. "In these days, the Iranians are supporting them and actively encouraging them to continue." Mordechai said that while Hamas was not actively firing rockets into Israel, it is viewed as the ruling authority in Gaza and is therefore held responsible by Israel for terrorist attacks that originate inside the territory.
Earlier in the day, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz convened a meeting of the General Staff and instructed the Southern Command to utilize intelligence collected by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and Military Intelligence to continue striking targets throughout the Gaza Strip.According to assessment within the IDF, Islamic Jihad is increasingly frustrated with its failure to exact a heavy price from Israel despite the large number of rockets it has fired. As a result of this frustration, the IDF predicts that the Islamic Jihad will escalate its rocket fire in the coming days. In general, short-range rockets fired into Israel are done so by members of the Popular Resistance Committees, the leader of which was assassinated by Israel on Friday as he was plotting an attack along Israel's border with Egypt. The longer range rockets such as those fired towards Ashdod as well as the ones destroyed the Israel Air Force in underground launchers hidden throughout Gaza on Sunday, are fired by the Islamic Jihad.Hmmmmm.......Iran 'Orchestrating' Global March to Jerusalem on March 30. Read the full story here.

Did White House Push FBI To Kill Anti-Gang Unit?(JW).While it blows hundreds of millions of dollars on wasteful “stimulus” projects and the expansion of costly entitlement benefits, the Obama Administration is eliminating a crucial FBI division that counters gang violence.
This could not have come at a worse time considering gang violence in the United States is at an all-time high. In fact, the latest annual gang threat assessment issued by the agency—National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC)—on the chopping block is downright alarming. It says that gangs are responsible for nearly half of all violent crimes in most parts of the country and up to 90% in many jurisdictions. That’s because there are over 33,000 active gangs in the U.S. with some 1.4 million members, according to the NGIC.
To help curb the growth of gangs and related criminal activity, Congress directed the FBI to establish the NGIC in 2005. It’s a multi-agency operation that combines the efforts of several federal and local agencies working together to tackle a crisis. According to its website, the NGIC integrates gang intelligence from across federal, state and local law enforcement on the growth, migration, criminal activity and association of gangs that pose a significant threat to the nation.
Why, then, would FBI Chief Robert Mueller eliminate the NGIC? A conservative news website uncovered Muller’s plan because a congressman grilled him about it at a House Appropriations Committee hearing this week. That’s where government agency heads go for money each year. It turns out that the FBI’s fiscal year 2013 budget proposal calls for the elimination of the NGIC, which has more than a dozen positions and an annual budget of nearly $8 million.That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the billions that have been wasted under the president’s fraud-infested $787 billion stimulus, which he vowed would jumpstart the economy and put Americans back to work. Instead, much of the cash has gone to unthinkable things like a genitalia-washing program for uncircumcised African men, international ant research and a Pennsylvania “tunnel to nowhere.” Click here to read Judicial Watch’s stimulus fraud reporting.
Bless the FBI for trying to save taxpayers money. In its 2013 budget proposal the bureau assures that nixing the NGIC won’t hinder its ability to counter the threat posed to the U.S. by criminal gangs. The congressman challenging the NGIC’s closure, Frank Wolf of Virginia, struck back with a rather interesting statement indicating that the White House was behind the plan.
“We received a revised version of your testimony late yesterday that the OMB [the White House’s Office of Management and Budget] inserted language making the absurd claim that the elimination of the National Gang Intelligence Center – $7.8 million and 15 positions – will not hinder the FBI’s ability to perform the analytical work done there,” Wolf said to the FBI chief.Could this be part of a bigger Obama plan to pander to Latinos in an effort to earn that crucial Hispanic vote in the upcoming election? After all, it’s been well documented that most violent gangbangers in the U.S. are, either Hispanic or illegal immigrants.Read the full story here.

DARPA's Director Will Soon Be a Google Executive.You probably don't know Regina Dugan's name, but for the past three years, she's been director of DARPA, the military's R and D lab. In a few weeks, she'll be moving into an executive position at Google, becoming one of the most senior military officials to cross over to the private sector.
The news that Google is hiring another executive, which comes by way of Noah Shactman, isn't such a big deal, but the fact that she happens to have orchestrated one of the most innovative periods of battlefield technology might raise a few eyebrows. What in the world does Google have planned that it's hiring military leadership? Dugan's career in science and technology offers some clues, and based on what she told Fast Company last November, she appears to have a knack for innovating quickly. "The defense world is like a mini-society," she said. "It has to deploy to anyplace in the world on a moment's notice, and it has to work in a life-or-death situation. That kind of focus, that kind of drive to ship an application, really does inspire greater genius. And the constancy of funding that comes with that -- in good times or bad, whether this party or that party is in power -- also helps inspire innovation."Whatever Google expects, Dugan's latest adventures in the Pentagon are pretty future forward. "Her push into crowdsourcing and outreach to the hacker community were eye-openers in the often-closed world of military R and D," explains Wired's Shachtman. "Dugan also won over some military commanders by diverting some of her research cash from long-term, blue-sky projects to immediate, battlefield concerns." Controversially, she is also purported to have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a company she cofounded and still partially owns, though that situation is still under investigation.We doubt Google's interested in building war machines, but by bringing Dugan on board, the company will inevitably have some tight connections with military leadership, which can't hurt. And if all else fails, they can just tuck her away in Google X secret labs, where we'll never hear from her again.Read the full story here.

Reporters Without Borders placed Turkey "under surveillance" in its annual "Enemies of the Internet" report today. The media watchdog listed countries that curtail freedom of expressionon the web, as well as access to it.Turkey, along with Russia, was added to the "under surveillance" list for its activities of blocking access to websites, attempting to ban certain search keywords and instituting a centralized filtering system.Turkey's taboo topics dealt with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – the founder of modern Turkey – the army, minority issues and the “dignity of the nation,” the report said, adding that these topics had served as justification for blocking several thousand sites.
In its detailed report on Turkey, titled "Censorship in the name of the founder of the Republic," the media watchdog said a total of 15,596 websites were suspended by authorities – double the number in 2011 – citing www.engelliweb.com as a source. The websites were suspended either by court order or by Turkey's Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK), the report said. Most of the blocked sites were betting sites or sites with pornographic or pedophiliac content.
The report drew attention to 15 supposedly pro-Kurdish websites that were also banned by court orders in 2011, including Fırat News, gundem-online.net and welat.org. The BTK's "laughable" attempt to ban searching certain keywords on the web in April was also cited in the report. Keywords included "etek" (skirt), "baldız" (sister-in-law) and "liseli" (high-school student). The attempt had failed after media covered the story to great extent, causing reaction among Internet users. Reporters Without Borders' report also noted the increasing mobilization of Turkish Internet users against state control over the web, dubbing the "Hands Off My Internet" initiative as "impressive."Read the full story here.The full Report can be read here.

Muslim Brotherhood controlled Egyptian parliament demands expulsion of Israeli ambassador & stops Gas to Israel.In an evening session Monday, the People’s Assembly demanded the deportation of the Israeli ambassador,Yaakov Amitai, and the withdrawal of the Egyptian ambassador from Tel Aviv.
The assembly voted unanimously on a statement prepared by the Committee on Arab Affairs, which also called for stopping gas exports to Israel in protest against the brutal attacks committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, considering it a flagrant violation of human rights.Assembly speaker Saad al-Katatny asked a special parliamentary committee to follow up the implementation of the demands with the government.
The statement said, “Egypt after the revolution will never be a friend of the Zionist entity, the first enemy of Egypt and the Arab nation,” and demanded that the Egyptian government review all its relations and agreements with that “enemy.”
It also called for activating the Arab boycott of the “Zionist entity” and the international companies that deal with it, considering such boycott strong support of the “choice of resistance,” the strategic option for the liberation of the occupied territories.Israel has launched several air strikes on the Gaza Strip, while militants in Gaza continued to fire rockets into southern Israel on Monday, the fourth day of violence that has taken the lives of 23 Palestinians.
Egyptian efforts to mediate a cease-fire were met with a demand by the Islamic Jihad Movement that Israel agree first not to target the movement’s leaders in future air strikes.Hmmm.........Obama "I've got your back" and Egypt has 1,000 M1 Abrams Battle tanks now thanks to me.Read the full story here.

Video - FEMEN member speaks out about time under Turkish police custody.Ukrainian Inna Shevchenko, a member of the FEMEN activist group, said Turkish police refused to communicate with them in a language they understood during their time in detention in Istanbul.
"We wanted to draw attention to the mistreatment of women in Muslim and Eastern countries," said Shevchenko in reference to the protest FEMEN staged in Istanbul last week.
"The police intervened immediately after we started our protest in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square," the activist said. "They grabbed our legs and arms and took us to the police station. There we waited for seven hours before they made us sign a statement written in a language we did not understand. They did not even bother to explain it to us."
The activists were then taken to the immigrants' department, where they were allowed tp speak with their lawyers, "but not for long," according to Shevchenko.Turkish police officers kept speaking Turkish to the Ukrainian activists, Shevchenko said, despite their repeated statements that they only spoke Russian and English. "When they moved to take us to our cells for the night, we resisted because we did not know where they were taking us and they took us by force."
The activist said they were told that they were being deported the next day and were banned from entering Turkey for a year. The way they were treated by the people worked as a "litmus test" to see the culture of democracy in countries they stage protests in, Shevchenko said.
"For instance, no one touched us when we protested in France and Switzerland. In Italy, we were detained, but released immediately after. Our protests in Russia and Turkey have proved to be the most problematic."Read and see the full story here, more here

How Obama Is Choking Off U.S. Oil Production.(NR).The news wires are reporting that President Obama actively lobbied Senate Democrats to defeat the Keystone pipeline yesterday. The effect of blocking the Keystone XL Pipeline is to defer 700,000 barrels of oil per day. And as I reported at The Weekly Standard recently, the president’s policy of choking off oil production under federal leases will prevent another 1 million barrels of oil per day this year, and even more next year. Obama will soon be personally responsible for preventing some 2 million barrels per day of possible North American crude oil production from reaching the American economy. The U.S. currently produces only about 6 million barrels of domestic crude oil, so that would be more than a 30 percent increase in domestic production. Two millions barrels per day of oil production would affect not just the price of gasoline in North America, but also the economics of world oil production: The president is preventing the U.S. from increasing oil production by an amount nearly equivalent to Iran’s total oil exports. He insists that gasoline prices are rising because of “fears” about a disruption in Iranian supply, but he wants you to believe that gasoline prices would be unaffected by a 30 percent increase in domestic U.S. oil production in the next two years.Hmmmm.....If he really wanted to destroy america as a Superpower would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

WALL STREET INSIDER: My God…My God…What Has Become Of America?(TUR).By Ulsterman.WSI: True – but before we start I wish to tell you…rather… congratulate you on something.

UM: Oh?

WSI: Your War for America article. It was spot – on. Perhaps you are not aware how much so…but it shows you’re much improved in putting the pieces together. Well done

UM: The pro-Israeli group – the campaign against President Obama? You’re part of that? That was my assumption. Something like that takes money…it…the timing of it made me think of you as soon as I learned of it.

WSI: As I said – much is being done to…educate voters in 2012. It is a collective effort by some to counterbalance the collective effort of others. Two opposing forces if you will…(pause)…a war. Good vs evil. And I mean that. That is not simple…exaggeration. I believe that. What is now underway is perhaps THE political war of this generation. No, not perhaps – it IS the political war of this generation.

WSI: Obama revealed himself to us…in full. While it was suspected…certainly we feared the possibility…but to have it so openly confirmed was…it was very unsettling to people who, shall we say…don’t unsettle easily.

UM: Please explain. Something. Explain something on that.

WSI: I will simply say this – and someday this information will get out…I likely will be long dead when it does…but the truth will be spoken of this someday.

WSI:You wish to know something of that meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanhayu? The prime minister stared into the eyes of our president…and he saw the truth of the man. He understood fully and completely the corruption of his heart.Read the full story here.

Bell, via Kagan, on Critical Race Theory: The Constitution Is the Problem.(Breitbart).In November 1985, the Harvard Law Review published an article by Derrick Bell that was a "classic" in the development of Critical Race Theory. The article was edited by then-student Elena Kagan, and was cited by Prof. Charles Ogletree in support of her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Barack Obama in 2010. The article makes clear that Critical Race Theory sees the U.S. Constitution as a form of "original sin"--a view later embraced by Obama as a state legislator, and reflected in his actions and appointments. The following is an excerpt from the non-fiction portion of the article; much of what follows is a fictional story that Bell intended as a parable of racial "fantasy." Read the full story here.

Declare the Muslim Brotherhood A Terrorist Organization.(LFR).Please read the article and sign the petition to urge Congress to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization! They are a threat to our country, our Constitution and our freedom and must be stopped!20,295 Letters and Emails Sent So Far. The Obama Administration has resisted naming the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. But if any group deserved to be on that list, the Brotherhood does. Ever since 1962, it has worked to convert Americans to jihad and Islamist extremism. It is actively building terrorist cells in the United States.And the evidence is that it is succeeding. More and more of the terrorist attacks on American soil are coming from people who live here, many of whom converted to Islam through the work of the Brotherhood.Since 9-11, 156 men have been indicted for terror-related activities. 127 of them had lived in the U.S. for ten years or more at the time of their arrest. One-third of these terrorists converted to Islam in their teens or twenties, most often through the efforts of the Muslim Brotherhood.Internationally, of course, the Muslim Brotherhood is working zealously to replace the secular liberalism of the Arab Spring with hard-core, Shariah-compliant, theocratic dictatorships. Suppressing women, eliminating free speech, persecuting Christians, and preaching hatred of Jews, Israel, and America, the Brotherhood is gradually taking over the Middle East as first dictators and now monarchs fall from power.To fight an enemy, you need to name it as your adversary and that is why including the Muslim Brotherhood on the list of terrorist groups is so important.Legislation is pending in Congress to require the State Department to include the group on their terrorist list. With your help, we have a good chance of passing this important legislation.For more information about the Muslim Brotherhood and to enlist in the battle to contain it, go to Citizens for National Security (www.cfns.us), a group struggling to “out” the Brotherhood. They the the leading group advocating inclusion of the Muslim Brotherhood on the terrorist list.Read the full story and sign the petition here.

Non-Nuclear U.S. Means a Bleak Future for World Stability.(Heritage).“Nuclear weapons will continue to serve critical foreign- and defense-policy objectives,” write Bradley Thayer and Thomas Skypek in their recent op-ed.Since the end of the Cold War, U.S. nuclear weapons have contributed to global stability and prevented attacks on U.S. homeland and its allies. The White House now thinks it is possible to achieve the same objectives without nuclear weapons. It assumes that once the United States gets rid of its nuclear arsenal, other countries will follow.This proposition is fundamentally at odds with historical evidence. States have their own reasons for obtaining nuclear weapons, and these reasons have very little to do with whether the U.S. increases or decreases its nuclear weapons arsenal. South Africa gave up its nuclear weapons amid the U.S. nuclear buildup and nuclear weapons testing. North Korea and Pakistan joined the nuclear club after the U.S. decreased its nuclear arsenal and stopped testing.According to recent reports, the Administration is planning on further reducing U.S. nuclear forces. How many nuclear weapons the U.S. maintains should be determined by the current developments of the strategic environment. Russia is modernizing its nuclear forces and increasing the number of its operationally deployed warheads. China, India, Pakistan, France, and the U.K. have substantial nuclear modernization programs. North Korea has the capability to develop six to eight nuclear weapons. Iran is getting closer to developing a nuclear weapon of its own. This is clearly not the time for the U.S. to reduce its nuclear weapons.Even more troublesome is President Obama’s lack of commitment to nuclear modernization. The Administration recognized that the U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure is under-funded during the Senate’s consideration of the New Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty and committed to increased funding. This commitment, however, has barely survived the first year after the treaty entered into force. In his fiscal year 2013 budget request, President Obama asked for $372 million less than what the Administration pledged to provide. In addition, the Administration proposed to defer the construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which would replace a nuclear production facility that is over 60 years old.In addition, a significant lowering of the number of operationally deployed nuclear weapons would require a shift in U.S. targeting strategy—from counterforce (e.g., military posts, nuclear weapons, nuclear production capabilities) to countervalue (e.g., populations and cities). A country that values freedom—for itself and others—above anything else should not divest itself of weapons that allow it to destroy enemy forces instead of civilian populations.Read the full story here.

International Herald Tribune takes Tear Gassed Women Photograph out of context.(CA).Women's Day Israeli soldiers in Ramallah, West Bank, fired tear gas and aimed a water cannon at about 50 women marching Thursday in support of Hana Shalbi, who has gone without food for 22 days to protest the holding of Palestinians without formal charges. In Gaza, about 500 women marched to support the hunger striker.For whatever reason, the information about the Palestinian rock throwing did not make into the Tribune cutline, although it is critical to understanding the day's circumstances. Indeed, the AFP, like the AP, noted that the Palestinians were throwing stones:At Qalandia, hundreds of women arrived by bus from across the West Bank for a rally organised by women's groups and local unions.They carried posters of Shalabi, who has accused Israeli forces of mistreating her and imprisoning her without evidence.Israeli troops used water cannons against the protesters and also utilised the "scream truck," a military vehicle that emits a high-pitched noise intended to disperse demonstrations.Towards the end of the demonstration, a handful of youths began throwing stones at Israeli forces, who responded by firing tear gas.Read and see the full story here.

Yemeni woman sweats blood, cries stones doctors unsure of ailment.(BM).SANA’A: Saboora Hassan Fakeih, a young woman from Yemen’s Hodeida, who until 6 months ago was perfectly healthy, revealed puzzling symptoms, which so far have left medical professionals flabbergasted, unable to determine what ailments the 20-year-old bride is suffering from.She told the press that soon after her marriage she started to faint, remaining unconscious for hours on end, adding that her tummy would swell up as if she was pregnant.When her husband took her to get examined, doctors assured him that all her exams had come back normal, giving her a clean bill of health.Despite those reassuring claims, Saboora took a turn for the worse over the past few weeks. For some unknown reason, the young woman started to sweat blood and cry little stones. Complaining from acute pain, Saboora is now in great distress, unable to eat or sleep, but more importantly desperately seeking a diagnosis.Several concerned residents told Bikyamasr.com that they suspected some malicious witchcraft or the intervention of some “devil” as such a thing could not possibly be “normal.”As it happens, Saboora is not the only person to have ever suffered from such extraordinary symptoms, as scientists in India recorded a similar event with a young girl. However she did not like Saboora complain from pain while crying stones, but her only side effect was the swelling of the eye.In this case too the medical profession was left wondering.As for the sweating of blood, such cases have been recorded before with doctors explaining that in time of great stress, blood vessels could dilate so extensively that they would rupture and bleed within the sweat glands, leaving the body to perspire blood.Saboora is now calling on the international community to extend a helping hand and end her nightmare.Read the full story here.

Here is a Video of @keithellison saying that the Jews were behind 9/11. pic.twitter.com/bE9HxKBgmO — VP Elect (@MikePenceVP) November 20,...

In Memory Of Alexander Munch (1948 - 2012).

Israeli Six-Day War Vet.

Previous Blogs here and here."
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the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." George Orwell.

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Irshad Manji.

"Muslim refusenik" is a phrase Manji uses to identify herself as someone who refuses to "join an army of robots in the name of God.".

Ayaan Hirsi Ali .

Wafa Sultan .

"Telling the truth after proper investigation is the height of courage." - Wafa Sultan.

Hagarism - The Making of the Islamic World.

Pakistani Women's Human Rights Organisation

Persian2English -

Stop Child Executions

I Stand With Israel !

Koran 7:7, where G-d Himself bequeaths the Land of Israel to the Jews, as a nation who thought themselves weak, and blesses them with goodness.Source

Shariah: The Threat to America

This book is based on the statements of the world's leading Shariah authorities and Shariah academic scholars.

The Abuse of Holocaust Memory.

Myths of Islam

"Religion does not require women to veil their hands, feet and faces or enjoin any special type of veil. Tribal custom must not impose itself on the free will of the individual."

Amanullah Khan - King of Afghanistan (1919-1929).

The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, head of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam,” said Sheikh Tantawi, vowing to ban it in Al-Azhar schools.After the girl complied he insisted she should not wear it any more.“I tell you again that the niqab has nothing to do with Islam and it is only a mere custom. I understand the religion better than you and your parents.” The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar imam vowed to issue a ban against the face-veil in all schools linked to Al-Azhar.“Source

The Jewish Holocaust.

The Armenian Holocaust.

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